146 THE UPPER YUKON 



leaves were falling from the pin-oak trees and 

 where they were to be found the trail would 

 be littered with sere, sun-browned leaves. 

 On passing one of these places I noticed that 

 an oak leaf that lay on top of the pile had a 

 spot of red on it. Reaching down and pick- 

 ing it up, I discovered the spot to be a drop 

 of blood. I examined it carefully. The 

 blood was from an animal that had been 

 bleeding but recently, because it had not be- 

 gun to coagulate. Being right in the center 

 of the path, it might possibly have come from 

 a wounded caribou. Of course, this sug- 

 gested that some one had fired and hit the 

 bull that I was following. 



Carefully laying the leaf down again, and 

 marking the spot with two sticks, I hastened 

 forward on the trail. A close examination of 

 it for a distance of a mile and a half showed 

 that the caribou was traveling at a regular 

 and steady pace and no other drops of blood 

 were on the trail ; that he had occasionally 

 stooped to take up a mouthful of moss, eating 

 it as he walked; that his footing was firm and 

 regular so that he could not have been the 

 animal that had lost that single drop of blood, 

 else his movements would have shown haste 

 or perhaps staggering. I then turned and 



